Automatic stoker.



B. V. EDWARDS'. AUTOMATIC STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED MN- I?, I9I6I Psitntad Dec. 4,1917.

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2 SHEE:I'SSHEET I.

B. v. EDWARDS..

AUTOMATIC STOKER. APPLICATION HLED JAN- I7, i916.

I anon/wide Patented Em 4,191?

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 ti iyidg pal Bacon v. EDWARDS, or NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, assumes no Enwanp primate,

on NEW YORK, N. r.

AUTOMATIC STOKER.

Specification'of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 17, 1916. Serial No. 72,397.

Il a all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bacon V. EnwAnns, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State ofllew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Stoker's, of which the following is a specification.

his invention relates to mechanical stokers of'the endless chain grate type and is particularly directed to improvements in construction whereby the fire is agitated, in an improved construction of the chain hearing the grate bars and in improved means for supporting, guiding and driving the chain.

One of the primary objects of the invention is to'provide simple practical means for agitating the fire to prevent the formation of a crust which stops the draft. To accomplish this, I provide sectional easily rcplaceable supporting guides or tracks of wavy contour to impart a vibratory motion to the bars as they travel over the same.

Another object is to provide means for distributing the pull upon the chain between the bottom and lower runs thereof to facilitate the drive. In former constructions the drive was entirely by a pull on the lower run of the chain. According to the improved construction, the pull is transmitted from the lower run of the chain to the upper run at a number of points in the length of the chain and thus the tractive effort is evenly CllStlil'JLltCl amongthe links of the upper run of the chain preventing any clogging which might result in stalling of the apparatus or the breakage of a link.

A further object is to provide .a chain of simple and cheap construction wherein every link may bear a grate bar, making it possible to use a narrower bar than in former 0011- structions.

-The various further objects and advantages will more fully appear from the detailed description and the features of novelty consisting in the novel construction and combination of parts will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating the invention,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation, partly broken away, of a Stoker embodying the invention.

. Fig. 2 is a fragmental plan view illustrating the arrangement of the grate bars.

, Fig. 3 is a. fragmcntal cross sectional elevation illustrating the cross sectional configuration and arrangement of the parts at one side or the frame.

Fig. 4 is a fragmental lin'e l-4 of Fig. Referring in detail to thedrawings, the grate bars 10 may be formed of a suitable construction such for instance as descri ed in the patent to Morrison, 3T0. 1,146,198, having lugs 11 extending from the ends of the web portions thereof. These grate bars are carried by achain formed preferably of a number of flat stamped links 12 having suitable apertures 13 to receive the lugs 11. As will appear from Figsl and 4, every link of the chain can carry a bar, and thus the width of the grate bars maybe decreased, which is advantageous in practice.

The links are joined by pintles 14, hearing rollers 15 which are guided and carried bya sectional track forboth the upper and lower runsof the chain to be hereinafter described.

The chain is driven from any convenient source of, power transmitted by any suitable drive, as shaft 16, worm and worm wheel within the casing 17, driving the forward sprocket wheel 18. Thcchain extends over to the rear sprocket wheel 19 mounted in a bearing block 20 which may be adj ustable by means of bolts 21 to take up the slack in the chain. A finger bar 21 and a movable dump plate close up the openings presented at the mar part of the furnace to prevent the section taken along air getting through at that point, thus avoiding disturbance of the draft.

I will now describe the improved track and the novel means for equalizing the tractive effort exerted upon the chain: Cast integral with the side frame of the device is a sheli 24 extending substantially the entire length of the run of the chain. Upon this shelf are mounted a plurality of track sections 25. Each of these sections is formed preferably with a flange Q6 resting upon the shelf. ()n the upper side of each section is fOlll'lOCl'fl pair of wave formed tracks 27 ha ving preferably a depressed portion 28 intermediate its ends and a raised portion 28 at the ends. The respective secdepending flange 29 extends downward from each section and formed with an inturned track portion 30 upon which the outer rollers of the lower run of the chain travel. Inasmuch as the grate bars on their return movement do not carry any load other than their own weight, the single roller and track will be sufiicient for the return movement.

To distribute the tractive effort along the upper run of the chain, I journal, preferably in each of the sections 25, a sprocket wheel 31 engaging both the lower and upper run of the chain. As the driving efl'ort of the sprocket 18 produces a tension on the lower run of the chain which is communicated to the upper run through the sprocket 19, the intermediate sprockets 31 transmit the tension from the lower run of the chain to intermediate points in the upper run and thus distribute the t'ractive effort through the upper run of the chain. This is especially desirable in view of the wave formed track on which the upper run of the chain travels.

During the movement of the chain along the wave formed track, a tilting action of the grate bar takes place, as readily appears from Figs. 1 and 4c. The grate bars 10 are formed, as will be readily understood, with surface of the bars with curved or arched contour as appears from Figs. 1 and 4:. Thus, the fingers are always at or below the level of the fire, avoiding the possibility of their burning ofi.

A number of practical features of construction are incorporated in my invention which cheapen the cost of construction and assembly. The track sections 25 are complete without machining and may be simply placed on the' shelves 24 and attached by means of bolts 33 which pass through holes cored in the side frames 23. Thus, to remove and replace a track section, it is merely necessary to turn the bolts 33 from the exterior of the side frame, which at once releases the section to be freely removed. The only machining required will be the tapping of the holes in the sections 25 to receive the bolts 33. The sections 25 may be kept in stock and may be used for any desired size of stoker. If a greater length of stoker is required, an additional section may be inserted upon a longer side frame. If a smaller number of agitations are desired, a

track section or sections may be removed and replaced with a flat section or sections The sections may be spaced from each other within limits any desired distance apart as appearsfrom Fig. 4, the rollers 15 being of sufficient size to bridge any small gap. If any inequality through casting is found, the joining edges of the track may be chipped off without necessitating machinin It will be understood, of course, t at many variations may be resorted to without departing from the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A mechanical stoker comprising an endless chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, and a sectional wave formed track for carrying the upper run of the chain to impart a vertical movement to the grate bars to agitate the fire, said sections being individually removable and replaceablefor purposes ofrepair and adjustment, and sprockets carried by certain of said sections to equalize the tension between the upper and lower runs of the chain.

2. A mechanical stoker comprising an endless chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, and a pair of wave formed sectional tracks for carrying the upper run of the chain to impart a vertical movement to the grate bars to agitate the fire, said sections being individually removable and replaceable for purposes of repair and adjustment, and sprockets carried by certain of said sections to equalize the tension between the upper and lower, runs'of the chain.

3. A mechanical stoker comprising an endless chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, and track sections having a wave formed track on the upper side thereof for the upper run of the chain and a portion of a straight track on the lower side thereof for the lower run of the chain,said sections being individually removable and replaceable for purposes of repair and adjustment, and sprockets carried by certain of said sections to equalize the tension between the upper and lower runs of the chain.

4:. A mechanical stoker comprising an end- 7 less chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, and track sections having portions of a pair of wave formed tracks on the upper side thereof for the upper run of the tension between the upper-and lower runs of the chain.

5. Anautomatic stoker comprising side frames, endless chains, grate bars carried intense thereby, a shelf on the interior face of the side frames, track sections-carried on said shelf and attached to the side frames, said sections each having a portion of a continuous were formed track on the upper surface thereof, said sections being individually removable and replaceable for purposes of repair and adjustment.

In an automatic stoker, an endless chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, means'lor imparting a vertical movement to the grate bars'at the upper run, means for driving the chain to exert tension on the lower run thereof, and means intermediate the ends of the chain for transmitting the tension of the lower run to the upper run thereof.

7. In an automatic stoker, an endless chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, means for driving the chain to exert tension on the lower run thereof, and means spaced at intervals, at points intermediate the ends of the chain, for transmitting the tension of the lower run to the upper run thereof.

8. In an automatic stoke r, an endless chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, a sprocket at one end of the chain for driving the same, a number of intermediate sprockets engaging the upper and lower ends of the chain for transmitting and distributing the tension of the lower run along the upper run of the chain.

9. An automatic stoker comprising an endless series of grate bars, means for driving the same, tracks for the upper and lower runs of the grate bars, the upper track serving to impart an up and down movement to the grate bars, and means intermediate the length of the series for transmitting the tractive effort from the lower run of grate bars to the upper run of grate bars.

10. An automatic stoker comprising an endless series of grate bars, means for driving the same, tracks for the upper and lower runs of the grate bars, the upper track serving to impart an up and down movement to the grate bars, and means spaced along the series of grate bars for distributing the tractive efiort exerted upon the lower run of grate bars to the upper run of grate bars.

11. In an automatic stoker, an endless chain, a series of grate bars carried thereby, a plurality of track section'members, each formed with a track section for the run of the chain, and sprocket wheels carried by said sections engaging the upper and upper lower runs of the chain intermediate the 7 the upper run of the chain and a lower track section for the lower run of the chain, and,

sprocket wheels carried by said sections engaging the upper and lower runs of the chain intermediate the' ends thereof to transmit and distribute the tractive effort of the lower run to the upper run.

13. In an automatic stoker,.the combination with the side frame, of an endless chain, grate bars carried thereby, a shelf on the side frame, sectional track members for the chain carried on the shelf, and bolts passing from the exterior of the frameand engaging said track members whereby the loosening of the bolts at the exterior frees the track sections to be readily removed and replaced.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 11th day of January, A. D. 1916.

BRUCE V. EDWARDS. Witness: 7

MINNIE S. MILLER. 

